-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The USS Cole Bombing - Reader Reactions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Thanks for all the responses. With recent news coverage and revelations of reporting inaccuracies, it wasn't surprising that 95% of you thought that the incident was preventable, citing a mixture of political and operational blunders. Here are a few. *********************************************************** William A. wrote: In answer to your inquires: The Cole bombing could have been prevented by simply bunkering the vessel in Djibouti, a port about 60 miles west of Aden, one that the Cole had to pass on its voyage to the Persian Gulf. Djibouti is secure and the recommended bunkering port for all merchant vessels in the Indian Ocean. Further it came to mind that Lloyds of London and our State Department issued a warning about 1991 to all vessels to stay out of Aden due to the unrest. Defiantly, our political leaders are just using our depleted Navy for their political games. ----------------------------------------------------------- Nick R. wrote: What seems strange to me is that the ship was attacked at the same time that Arabs and Jews are at each other's throats. Is that maybe we are trying to get the general public riled against the Arabs! It is very strange that the Ship would stop at Aden for fuel. There is more here and I think it could be the "Mossad". ----------------------------------------------------------- Tom Leewood wrote: When news of this reached me, those around me could not understand my anger and disgust with the Cole even being in that port, let alone tied up and undefended. This is just another snafu in a long line of them, forced upon our military by this bed wetting administration and it's appointees. This should be added to the list of charges Clinton should face when he leaves office. He should never see the light of day again for the TREASON he has committed against the United States of America, which he SWORE to protect and defend. My heart goes out to the families of those Sailors that lost their lives projecting Clinton's failed International policies. Semper Fi ------------------------------------------------------- A seagoing Sailor wrote: I have 16 yrs active on subs and surface ships and don't want this to happen again. We all know who is responsible when we have situations like the Cole (god bless them). Normally the CINCS, Groups, and Squadrons write new instructions, each more restrictive than the last, and not one says a thing about self defense other than...when appropriate, when attacked, etc....to remove culpability from themselves. We've seen it on this ship. The CO is responsible. So look at the other side, what if he had small arms take out that small boat? We have a barrier in communications, which causes a lag in time, a young crew member on the small arms team, miscommunication, you know how it is. >From what I understand, this boat had already moored one line to a buoy and crossed from the starboard to the port side. I'm just learning the restrictions for surface ships on their weapons, and it is very restrictive prior to pulling into port. What CO would purposely put his boat into port as a target? We find out today the State Department removed all civilians about 2 weeks ago from the local embassy because of the imminent threats that were based on good intelligence. I've also seen reports that the harbor was empty, and numerous civilians were watching the anchoring of the ship...huh? Until the leadership takes charge, takes responsibility of the commands below it, I don't think that the Navy will change. On my first boat, we loaded at dark, and god ...the Captain didn't even know. I wish the Cole members the best, but this will only happen more if the Navy Department doesn't stand with us and not behind us, pointing fingers. ----------------------------------------------------------- Don Holland wrote: Yes, the bombing of the U. S. S. Cole could have easily been prevented! If the Clinton administration had not dismantled our underway replenishment capability by reducing the number of Fleet oilers, we could have refueled the Cole at sea, which is the very purpose of underway replenishment at sea, to provide for refueling and replenishment of Navy Ships in a hostile environment. If we had maintained our replenishment at sea capability it would not have been necessary to put Cole and her crew at great risk by sending them into a known hotbed and safe haven for terrorists. =========================================================== ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Navy: Close-in Security used to be Common Practice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Enlightening comments by a former Navy Security Team Leader. I have not heard any comments if the Navy still practices these procedures. *********************************************************** By a former Navy Security Team Leader You are absolutely right about the lack of security or forethought with regard to the USS Cole incident. I left the Navy in 1985 after 8 years of service. I was 25 years old. While onboard the USS Joseph Hewes FF1078, I served as a SAT leader...security alert team. While I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of Nuclear weapons onboard the Hewes, we took our security to the extreme. Whenever we pulled into an even mildly hostile port, like Tunis, Tunisia, or Alexandria, Egypt, we had several SAT members with M16 or 12 gauge riot guns topside and a small boat in the water. Nothing approached the ship without a good "once over." We would have done a search of that mooring boat in Aden before it approached the ship. And this was a rusty old tramp Frigate!!! Nevertheless, the ship should have never been there refueling. They should be refueling at sea with merchant marine oilers, just like we did in the '80's. How could that CO allow this to happen? I just cannot accept the fact that he could be THAT negligent!!! Something is rotten in Denmark! =============================================================== ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Army: Save Small Group Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: At a time when the Army can't retain mid-ranking officers, reenlistments are down and new headgear is the number one readiness concern, critical schooling for combat leaders is about to become dangerously diluted. Having served as a Team Chief for small group instructors at Ft. Benning, I appeal to the Army's Chief of Staff to keep small group training alive. More than 8-10 Captains per group does not allow concentrated mentoring. *********************************************************** By a concerned Infantry Officer Of all the depressing articles I read about, here is a situation I'd like to see discussed. The Infantry Officer's Advanced Course (now called the Infantry Captain's Career Course -- ICCC) at Benning is about to take a nosedive in quality. The decision was made to stop filling the small group instructor positions, and gradually phase out seminar instruction. This is the worst possible decision. The impact of this will be mass classroom instruction (150 plus captains, generic solutions, and little mentorship and development). The focus will be on what to think and how to pass test and requirements versus thinking about tactics and striving to apply combat power in scenarios and orders. I graduated ICCC in July 1999. The instruction was superb. The instructors were exceptional in terms of knowledge, personal example, and instruction. I cannot overemphasize the level of detail and quality of instruction we received in ICCC seminar instruction. While ICCC has never been perfect, I adamantly insist they prepared captains well regarding the doctrinal basis for tactics, techniques, procedures and the orders process. All captains must now attend the Combined Arms and Services Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth following their branch captain's course. At CAS3 infantry captains routinely blew away everyone in terms of knowledge. Why? Because we learned it so well at Benning! It is bad enough DA has shaved a whole year off of lieutenant experience by promoting 2LTs to 1LT in 18 months, and 1LTs to CPT in 18 months. Decreasing a whole year of lieutenant experience on station is hurting the Army now and in the future. Decreasing the quality and personal instruction of captain's education is just as stupid. In the quest for saving money we've opted not to fill 16-17 SGI slots. We sure haven't opted to cut the number of staff vehicles we purchase for general officers. We still spend an inordinate amount on fuel and parts to ensure our general officers can fly everywhere to press the flesh. We haven't curtailed the gifts we purchase for congressional delegations or general officer visits. The AC/RC program (fraud waste and abuse at it's finest) still has its congressionally mandated fill of command-qualified infantry captains underutilized daily. West Point instructors aren't being cut. Yes, it seems when in doubt, cut educating the warfighter. What's next, getting rid of training ammo for Ranger School? I could go on at length about the clowns that run our unit overseas. But if we could just save the fine SGIs from extinction at Benning, I'd know that the captains showing up when I'm in company command are as educated as I was two years before. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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